Battle of Chang'an (195)

The Battle of Chang'an occurred in 195 AD when Dong Zhuo's former generals Li Jue and Guo Si engaged in a pitched battle within the walls of the imperial capital of Chang'an.

Background
By 195 AD, Dong Zhuo's former generals Li Jue and Guo Si were commanding the Imperial Court in Chang'an; Li Jue had assumed the title of Regent Marshal, while Guo Si became Grand Commander. Han loyalists Yang Biao and Zhu Jun plotted with Emperor Xian of Han to invite Cao Cao and his 200,000 troops to cleanse the city of Dong Zhuo's generals, and they decided to create a rift between the two reigning warlords in order to weaken them. Yang Biao's wife visited Guo Si's wife and spread a rumor that Guo Si was having an affair with Li Jue's sister, and Guo Si's wife grew suspicious of her husband's frequent absences. She repeated Yang Biao's wife's belief that Li Jue was more powerful than Guo Si and could do away with him, and she tried to guilt him into turning against him, lest he slay her husband and leave her in destitution. This failed, but, when she insisted that food gifts from Li Jue be taste-tested by the dog before consumption, the dog died, leading to Guo Si suspecting that Li Jue wished to poison him. Li Jue later invited Guo Si to the palace, where Guo Si drank too much wine and was seized with a colic. Believing that his wife's conspiracies were now confirmed, Guo Si decided to strike the first blow against Li Jue.

Kidnapping the Emperor
Li Jue heard of Guo Si preparing his guards, and he responded by raising his own guards to attack Guo Si; both men had 10,000 troops under their command, and a pitched battle ensued within the city walls. When the battle was over, both sides began to plunder nearby civilians, and the city was thrown into chaos. Li Jue's nephew Li Xian had Jia Xu and Zuo Ling carry off the Emperor and Empress in two carriages, and Guo Si's army fired arrows at the cavalcade, killing several attendants before Li Jue's army routed them. Guo Si's soldiers plundered the vacant palace and carried off the handmaidens there, and the palace was then set on fire. Guo Si then headed to attack Li Jue's camp, and Li Jue fought Guo Si to a draw. Li Jue then had the imperial family jailed at Meiwo by Li Xian, and Li Jue sent the Emperor putrid meat and rotten grain when he and his starving attendants asked for more food as a famine set in.

Battles between Li Jue and Guo Si
Guo Si and his army then attacked Li Jue again, and Yang Biao, Zhu Jun, and 60 other officials arrived in an attempt to make peace, only to be detained at Guo Si's camp. Guo Si released Yang Biao and Zhu Jun, who were depressed at their failure to rescue the emperor, and Zhu Jun returned home and died in his sorrow. The Emperor tasked Huangfu Li with making peace between the rival factions, but Li Jue nearly killed him in a fit of rage, had it not been for Yang Feng and Jia Xu's intervention. Huangfu Li then loudly claimed that Li Jue sought to kill and usurp the Emperor, so the Emperor had Huangfu Li retire to his home in Xiliang. Despite this, the effect of the rumors had already worried Li Jue's Qiang troops from Xiliang. Li Jue sent Wang Chan to arrest Huangfu Li, but Wang Chan esteemed Huangfu Li as an honorable man and claimed that he could not be found. Jia Xu then convinced the Qiang soldiers to return to their homes, and he advised the Emperor to grant Li Jue a high office to distract him.

Peace deal
Li Jue rewarded the witches whom he had frequently consulted, but never remembered his generals such as Yang Feng, who grew angry. Yang Feng and Song Guo decided to rescue the Emperor from Yang Feng, but their plans were overheard and Song Guo was executed, while Yang Feng escaped to Xian. Li Jue's army continued to desert as Guo Si frequently attacked him, and Zhang Ji led a large army down from Shanxi to forcibly broker peace between the two generals. Li Jue and Guo Si both told Zhang Ji that they were willing to make peace, and the Emperor was taken to Hongnong near Luoyang. However, Guo Si attempted to outwit Zhang Ji, sending a few hundred horsemen to halt the Imperial cavalcade near Baling Bridge at Xinfeng. The two officers in charge of the cavalcade were persuaded to let the Emperor continue on to Hongnong, so Guo Si had the officers executed for dereliction of duty.

Rescue of the Emperor
Further down, however, Yang Feng attacked the convoy with his army. When Li Jue's general Cui Yong began to taunt Yang Feng, Yang Feng sent out his general Xu Huang, who slew Cui Yong in the first bout. Guo Si's army was routed for seven miles, and Yang Feng and Xu Huang rescued the emperor from Guo Si's army. They reached Huaying, where Duan Wei supplied them with clothing and food. Guo Si and his army then marched out to the camp at Huaying, but Xu Huang repelled Guo Si's attack with the help of Dong Cheng, who had arrived from the southeast to aid them.

Aftermath
Guo Si led his defeated army back and met with Li Jue, and they agreed that, if the Emperor reached the Huashan Mountains, he could form a coalition against the two generals. They decided to launch a joint attack on Hongnong to kill the Emperor, and they left a trail of destruction behind them as they marched. They went on to meet their foes in battle at the Battle of Dongjian.